This invention relates to preformed coverings, particularly for motorvehicle gear shift levers.
From the European Patent Application No. 0 061 662 a covering for gear shift levers is known, in which the covering has a sleeve portion for covering at least the upper part of the rod of the shift lever and a bellows-like portion for covering at least the zone of the articulation joint of the lever. The sleeve portion may either be made integral with the bellows-like portion or such portions may be prefabricated as separate parts, but connected to each other by means of such connection formations that the covering behaves as if the two parts were made integral with each other. The sleeve portion has a top of knob-like shape defining internally a hollow space having an internal diameter greater than the internal diameter of the cylindrical cavity of the sleeve portion in which the rod of the shift lever is received. In the hollow space at the top of the covering an insert of harder material than that of the covering is arranged, in which a seat formation is provided providing a snap engagement with the top portion of the rod of the gearshift lever. The insert is necessary in order to provide a satisfactory and durable engagement between the rod of the gearshift lever and the covering, since the soft material of the covering is normally insufficiently hard for a durable satisfactory engagement of the rod within the covering without the use of the hard material insert. The insert is inserted in the hollow space of the covering by a co-molding process, which increases both the manufacturing and material costs and affects the behaviour of the two materials at the mutual contact zone at which an abrupt passage from a soft material to a hard material occurs.